0:07 The book of Daniel chapter one. Let's pray again. Our god and father, we thank you for your word. And as we open your word today, Lord, we want you to receive all the glory. And, Lord, as you receive the glory, we ask you, God, to bless your people, to understand your word and abide in your word.
0:40 And as they abide in your word, you receive even more glory. In Jesus' name, amen. We have looked, at this passage a few weeks ago, and this is part two. We have seen that Israel was taken to captivity by the Babylonians, and among those who were taken to captivity, four young boys. Now they are in a foreign land far from God's chosen place for his people.
1:20 This is to fulfill God's word. If you turn away from me, you will be scattered all over the world, and your land will be given to others. In Babylon, these four boys are part of a small minority of Jews. Most of them are not very different than the pagan Babylonians. They are not worshipers of the true God.
1:51 For this very reason, they were taken to captivity. That these four boys, as we see from their character and under the leadership of Daniel, displayed such faith in God and commitment to his words like no others. How this is possible? These are but very young boys. I have no doubt in my mind these boys were raised by godly parents, devout Jews.
2:31 They are taught their children like Timothy was taught in the New Testament, to love the Hebrew scripture and to observe what God has commanded at any cost. The apostle Paul reminds Timothy in second Timothy three fourteen. He reminds him of his godly upbringing and tells him this. But as for you, Timothy, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood. You have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
3:23 From childhood, then he continues with that very, very important verse. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Why? That the man of God and the woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. How did Timothy learn this from his childhood?
3:51 Through his mother and through his grandmother. He became that wise man of God. He was equipped for every good work. So with Daniel. And under his leadership and by the grace of God, these young boys were able to stand for what they believe was right and refuse all the world has to offer.
4:16 Let us pray that god would raise parents who would raise children to do just the same. They were wise. They were they had godly wisdom, and they were equipped for every good work because of the training in scriptures they had. And I believe there is a strong message to all of us today. First, for parents, teach your children to love God's word.
4:51 Teach them to read God's word. Teach them to memorize God's word and set example yourself for them. For children, find Christian friends. Stick together, fight together, and encourage each other. And you find if you find a Daniel, let him lead.
5:14 Babylon had an agenda for the children as we have seen. What was the agenda of Babylon? To change these young boys, to alter their thinking, to make them fit well in the Babylonian culture, to look the same like all the others. And in order to do that, Babylon has to take some crucial steps to make this happen and make it happen very fast. We have seen, last time, first verse four.
5:51 What did he do? Verse four. To teach him the literature and language of the Chaldeans for three full years. Change their school curriculum. Teach them a new language, new literature.
6:06 Get them saturated in the Babylonian literature and their own thinking. This is what the world trying to do. This is our school trying to do to our children. Secondly, we looked at verse five. The king assigned to them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and the wine that he drank.
6:30 Let them indulge in the king's menu. Let them indulge in the Babylonians' pleasures and have a great seat at the king's table with the king's servants. You know, the king had no doubt when this boy is going to try his food and his drink, they are going to love it. It's the king's menu. It's the king's buffet.
6:54 It's the king's table. Who would not love the king's food and king's wine? Just try it. The world tell us just try it. Kill still kids.
7:13 Just try it. What a deceiving offer. What a deceiving offer. Just try it. Many of us have tried it, haven't we?
7:25 We've tried the king's menu. We tried the pleasures of sin, and we can testify that it brought us at times some pleasure, temporary pleasure. And how do we as believers regret it now? Oh, it began with one single try. And how often this one single try led to full addiction and a life of pain?
7:54 Have you experienced it? So this is our mandate. It's our mandate who are older to embrace the young with love and compassion and show him the dangers of the addicting food of the wine and the and the food of the king. To replace the slogan, just try it with another slogan, just reject it. Just refuse it.
8:25 Just shun it away. Shun it. Reject it. Now let us look at the end of verse three, And we see the third thing the world wants to do, wants to see happening to our children and to the church as a whole, and I believe the world has succeeded in a great measure. Verse three.
8:57 The king assigned him a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time, they were to stand before the king. I wanted to underline that last part of the verse, to stand before the king. The king is going to test their ability in the language and the literature of the Chaldeans, but also to look and to see how they look. Look at verse 10.
9:37 And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I I fear my lord, the king, who assigned your food and your drink, for why should he see you? He see that you were in worse condition than a youth who are of your age, so you would endanger my head, the king. The king wants them to be to appear, to look the way he desired according to his own standards. And that bring me to the third point. The world wants to change our outward appearance.
10:21 And I will touch only the surface of this subject and only regarding, shall I say it, what we wear and how we look. Now this topic is almost absent in the church today, and I would have never chosen it if it weren't here. That probably would be the last subject to look for and preach about. But praise God that we preach verse by verse. You can't run away from any topic.
10:54 You have to talk about it. So, of course, some might say, I mean, don't you find any other topic to talk about? Of course, there are many other topics and probably more important. But does it really matter? Does our appearance does how we look matter to god, Or he just concerned only about our heart?
11:16 One of the most, I believe, misunderstood verses in the scripture are men is mentioned in first Samuel chapter 16 verse six and seven. There, Samuel is sent to Bethlehem to the house of Jesse to anoint a king among the children of Jesse, and we know whose that boy is. It was David. Now he came to the house of Jesse, and this is what happened in verse six. When they came, the children, he looked, that was Samuel, on Eliab and thought, surely the Lord's anointed is before him.
11:57 But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on his height, of his stature, because I have rejected him, for the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. The verse teaches this verse that man only can see the outward appearance, and the outward appearance can be deceiving. But God sees the heart, even the inner part of the heart. This verse does not teach that God does not care about the way we dress or the way we look or the way we appear before him in his sanctuary.
12:49 What is appropriate for the child of God and what is not appropriate. Even how much authority we have over our own body. How much authority do you think do you have over your own body? According to Christ, according to his word? Let me tell you how much.
13:14 First Corinthians six nineteen. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price so glorify God in your body. This is how much authority you have about your body. Your body is not your own.
13:38 It's Christ's body. Now the law the ruler of this world was the church to look exactly like the world in every aspect. Now I must say something here before I continue to make things clear. Different cultures has different customs, and we must respect that and not to judge all cultures by ours. But even culture, every culture must abide by the standards of the word of God.
14:21 Now having understood this, we must we must ask the question, does the bible give us a guideline in this area? And the answer to this is what? Yes. Otherwise, I would not have opened the subject. The bible teaches us that we are that you are the bride of Christ.
14:47 How do you think the bride of the king of kings should look like in her outward appearance? Think of yourself as the bride of Christ, how the bride of Christ should look like. Should she be a reflection of who he is? Should she imitate the world, or is she called to be holy and set apart for her bridegroom? I want to look at couple of scriptures beginning in the Old Testament, and this is only in regard to one aspect of our appearance, namely our clothing.
15:33 Deuteronomy twenty two five. Deuteronomy chapter 22 beginning in verse five. A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the lord your god. You call this cross dressing. And by the way, the word abomination that's used here, which is, we talked about it last Friday, it is in Hebrew, which is used also in Leviticus eighteen twenty three to describe the sin of homosexuality and bestiality.
16:24 The same word. That's how God looks at the way men and women should dress. Abomination. Now God, from the beginning, has created man and woman. They are equal human being, but they are also different.
16:45 Physically, they are different. I can look at each one of you and I can tell who's a man and who is a woman. This is not rocket science. Now God has also given each one of us different roles. It is designed by God, the creator, the difference and the roles.
17:05 And here in the book of Deuteronomy, God says, I want the difference between man and woman to appear in what they wear. Clear. That's what God is saying. Women should wear should not wear men's clothing. Neither man should wear women's clothing.
17:25 It is according to God's standard to eva, abomination. So in regard to our appearance, number one, man should look like a man. A woman should look like a woman. Number two, we should always be modest in our appearance. First Timothy two nine.
18:00 First Timothy two nine. Likewise, also that women should adorn themselves is in respectable apparel with modesty and self control, not with a braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire. Also, first Peter three three. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear. Now listen.
18:43 God is not against fashion or style. I would be great hypocrite if I taught you that. I believe it's good when a Christian man or a Christian woman dress nicely, take care of themselves, take care of their outward appearance. In fact, I believe they should. The warning is not against wearing nice clothing, matching colors, good equality, new styles.
19:16 The warning is against immodesty. The warning aims focus on the external, not the internal, not the heart condition. We must understand that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we must glorify our God with our own bodies. Must also understand if what I am wearing causing my weak brother to stumble, then I am not walking in love. My body is not my own.
19:56 Does my outfit, does what I'm wearing glorifies God? Does it bring him honor? And what applies to women, by the way, applies also to men. If I'm invited to me to meet king Jesus today, would I be wearing this outfit? We are in the presence of king Jesus today, aren't we?
20:26 Am I wearing what is modest in his eyes or what is culturally acceptable in America 2022? That is the question. The world wants you to be just like them. The role of this world attempts everywhere and all the time to make us just blend in, blend in, blend in. No.
20:50 We are different, and the world must see this difference even in how we dress ourselves and how we appear before them. The world says, be like us. God says you are different. You are a child of the king. You are redeemed.
21:10 You are the bride of Christ. Why then I see so many Christians not living and not looking like the bride of Christ, but rather like slaves of the devil? Sad to say sad to say, don't let the world change you. Don't let the world influence your thinking. Don't let the world rob you from all the privileges that you have in Christ Jesus.
21:39 Continue to be different. Continue to be light. We are called to change the world. Why we are being changed by the world? Change the world.
21:51 This is our calling. Change the world. I must just add here a very important footnote, beware of legalism. I must say that. Legalism is awful sin, able to destroy churches and people.
22:13 It's not my definition or your definition what counts, but it is God's word. Don't judge other based on your understanding of what is modest. See what the scripture says. And let us never judge people in the gray area, and there are many. Let's be silent where the scripture is silent, and let us speak when this where the scripture speaks.
22:44 And above all, show humility. I think legalism and humility don't go very well with each other. I've seen it. They don't go very well with each other at all. People who are under legalism are very proud and haughty.
23:00 Show humility, love, and compassion. Let us go now to verse seven. I think we're doing good with the time. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names. Daniel, he called Belteshazzar.
23:24 Hananiah, he called Shadrach. Mishael, he called Meshach. And Azariah, he called Abednego. And this is the fourth way the world want to change us, change their names. In other words, change their identity.
23:46 We want Daniel to become builty Shazar or maybe Daniela. Hananiah is call him Shadrach or maybe Hannah. Mishael call him Meshach or maybe Michelle, Azaria Abednego, or Bara even Abi. Do you see a strategy? This is a strategy.
24:15 Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, these are foreign names to us. They don't fit very well in our culture. These names testify the identity of these young boys from different culture, having different religion. We don't accept this in our land. I remember back in the nineties, people would ask me, what is my name?
24:46 I would say, Daniel. Some would ask, but what is your real name? I say my real name is Daniel. I guess they heard my accent. They looked they saw me how I look.
25:00 They thought my name should be Abdullah or Ghafar. So you see, in the Bible, often your name speaks of your identity, who you are. These boys' names testify whom they belong to. Daniel, God is my judge. Hanania, God is merciful and compassionate.
25:32 Mishael, who is like God. Azariah, God is our help. God, Jehovah. God. God.
25:41 God. My name testifieth I belong to the Lord God. Let us, the world says, change these names. To Belteshah to Biltasar, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. Even the sound of these names sounds awful.
26:08 Belshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These names invoke the help of the Babylonian deities in their meaning. Let's change their names. Let's change their identity. These four boys were given new names.
26:30 They have not chosen their names. Their parents were not consulted, were not asked. If they could change their names, here you are. That is your new name. That is your new identity.
26:46 And did the king succeed in changing their names? Did he? Of course, he did. Absolutely, he did. Let me ask you this question without looking at your Bible.
27:02 Are you able to name for me the name of these three boys? Who's able to? None of us. Right? You thought right away of the three names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
27:16 Didn't you? Why you didn't think about Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah? Why did you think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Correct? Why?
27:29 The king succeeded. Quite interesting. I looked it up. In Daniel one eleven, Daniel one nineteen, Daniel two seventeen, the names of these young boys are mentioned, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And afterward, beginning in February, all the references to these three boys were by their new Chaldean names.
27:54 What happened? Just a matter of time. Even the Hebrews will begin calling them with their new names. Just a matter of time. What I'm trying to do here what I'm trying to say here simply this, as in old Babylon, it's also in our new modern Babylon.
28:19 Every attempt is made to change and alter our identity. Firstly, and most importantly, the identity of us as Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ. Who are we as Christians? But secondly, our identity as created in God's image. And I don't mean just us, the church, but even the whole human race.
28:56 I thought of four categories here, but I want to expand only on one that we have touched on already previously, the identity of the male and female before I go to the most important one, our identity as Christians, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think Satan is attacking God's design like we have never seen before. God from the beginning created them, as we have read, male and female. Genesis one twenty seven. So God created man in his own image.
29:43 In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. God's plan, God's design, humans are created one in God's image. Secondly, male and female. And why male and female?
30:03 Again, this is not rocket science. Why? Verse 25 still as that or 28. And God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Why God required him male and female?
30:23 To multiply and fill the earth. This is God's design. This is God's original plan for mankind, and God did not change his plan. Now in changes in Genesis two, we see the details of women's the woman's creation. God took a rib from Adam.
30:45 He created woman. He presents her to Adam. Now Adam is so thrilled. This is my wife. Right?
30:52 And listen to verse 25. Listen to verse 25. Adam now is presented to his with with with his wife or to his wife or she's present is presented to him. And verse 25 says, and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Man and a woman, male and a female, husband and a wife in the bond of marriage, naked and not ashamed.
31:29 That is what the New Testament calls the undefiled bed. Hebrews thirteen three. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterer. Now let us define or see what is the defiled bed. This is the antiphile.
32:02 What is the defiled bed? Romans one twenty six. Romans one twenty six and and and twenty seven. That is the defiled bed. For this reason, God gave them up to this honorable passion for their women exchange natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.
32:25 And verse 27, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. Have you noticed the contrasting situation between Genesis two twenty five and Romans one twenty seven and the use of the word shame in both instances? Have you seen that? In Genesis two, we read there is no shame between man and woman in marriage. Both were naked and not ashamed.
33:10 God's design. In Romans one twenty seven, we see Babylon's standards of morality were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men, Satan's design. Replace God's order and design with what is contrary to nature. There is no shame among some in committing what is shameful in God's eyes and contrary to nature by God's definition. What does modern what does modern Babylon teaches?
33:59 Redefine sex, redefine gender, redefine morality, redefine woman, redefine mother, redefine a child. He's not a real child until he's born. Right? Endures what is shameful and boast in what is against nature and against God's design. Listen to these statistics.
34:26 I found them quite interesting. The percentage of transgender adults in The USA is point five percent of adults, half percent. In fact, I was shocked at the high at this high number. But listen, among those who are between 18 and 24 years old is one point three percent. But among the ages, 13 to 17 is one point four percent.
35:04 What is happening? Why the numbers are climbing and it's almost doubling from point half percent, point five percent to one point four percent? Target the children. Target the children. Teach them you are how you feel today.
35:23 It's not about your sex at birth. It's about how you feel. Today, you feel a man. Tomorrow, you feel a woman. In two months, you feel a dinosaur.
35:32 This is who you are. This is crazy. God's design, male plus female equals family populating the earth. Babylon's design, Satan design, male plus male or female plus female extinction. Clear.
36:03 Now I want to switch switch off Babylon, the switch of Babylon. And moving quickly to my first point, the Christian identity, who we are in Christ Jesus, who we are as followers of the Lord God. And I want to end my message with looking up at some uplifting words from God's holy word and forget a little bit about the the the Babylonian doctrine and see God's doctrine, God's word. I want to do something different. We'll stand, all of us together in a minute, and declare as we read the scripture together who God says we are.
37:01 The scriptures we're about to read are for those who are in Christ Jesus. The privileges and promises are not for everyone, not for anyone who's outside of Christ. In fact, for those who are outside of Christ, there is but eternal condemnation. But if you are a true follower of Christ, these are your privileges. These are your promises.
37:32 These are your blessings. And then let me know later if you would like to exchange those things with anything else. We're gonna see in the screen the verses in a minute, and I want us to stand together and as we see those verses. Are we ready? I'm going to read the scripture, but want us to all of us to read the verse itself.
38:03 Second Corinthians five seventeen together. Therefore, if anyone in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. You are a new creation.
38:20 First Peter two nine. But you are chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own position that you may proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvels. We are a chosen people. Galatians two twenty. I have been crucified with Christ.
38:51 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Christ lives in us. Ephesians two ten, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We are god's workmanship.
39:26 John fifteen fifteen, no longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing.
39:38 We are friends of God. Galatians three twenty six, For in Christ oh, for in Christ Jesus. Alright. You are all sons of God through faith. We are sons of God.
39:56 First Corinthians 12 of 27. Is it there? Alright. Go ahead. Now you are the body of Christ.
40:06 We are the body of Christ. Romans eight seventeen. And if children
40:12 ears. Ears of God and no ears to Christ.
40:16 We are heirs of God. First Corinthians six nineteen and twenty or 19. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Romans eight one.
40:44 There is therefore no condemnation for those who are on the
40:50 We are no longer condemned. Ephesians two six. We have been raised and seated with Christ. Ephesians one three.
41:09 Blessed be you, God, the father of our lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.
41:19 Hallelujah. When blessed Hallelujah. We're blessed with every, every, every spiritual blessing. Ephesians one seven. We have been redeemed.
41:37 We have been forgiven. Romans six six. We are no longer slaves to sin. Philippians three twenty.
42:05 in heaven. We have heavenly citizenship. Second Corinthians five twenty. We are ambassadors for Christ. Romans eight thirty seven.
42:33 We are conquerors even more. Second Corinthians five twenty one. We are the righteousness of God. Matthew five fourteen. We are the light of the world reflecting his light.
43:01 Ephesians two nineteen. We are fellow citizens and members of God's family. Romans five one.
43:18 Therefore, we have peace with God.
43:26 We have peace with God. Galatians three twenty eight. We are all one in Christ Jesus. First Corinthians six three. We will judge angels.
43:56 And the last one, but not the least, Jeremiah twenty nine eleven. We have a bright future and eternal hope. You may be seated. Anyone would like to exchange these privileges and blessings with anything else? Anyone?
44:30 Anyone? Why anyone wants to change exchange his blessing blessings with anything else? This is our identity, Christ. This is what you have what we have in just in in Christ Jesus. We are different, and the world must see this difference.
44:53 The Christian can blend in the world like water can blend with oil. We have a different nature. We have a different DNA. We are heavenly. They are earthly.
45:05 We have our father who is God. We have a shepherd who is Jesus. They are lost without a shepherd. The world wants to change God's children to become Satan slaves. The world wants to rob us from all these privileges and blessings and give us nothing, nothing in return, nothing in return.
45:32 I have never met a Christian, never, who regretted or who did not who regretted coming to Christ. I always hear hear people telling me, oh, I wish I came to Christ earlier. Are you still there in the world? Anyone still in the world? These promises today are for the believers, only for the believers, those who are in Christ Jesus Christ, but you can be welcome even now and today to this family, the family of the children of God.
46:07 The only thing you can do is come on your knees, confess you are a sinner. Then, lord, I want to be yours and yours forever. I want to be heir with Christ. I want to be part of this family. I want these blessings.
46:23 I want these promises. I want this identity in Christ Jesus. And if you have this identity in Christ Jesus, you know what we're doing today. Right? We're celebrating the Lord's table.
46:41 Today, we wanna think of what he has done for us on the cross. This identity we have in Christ, not because something I have done or something you have done nothing. It's all because Christ has done. He has qualified us to become children. He has qualified us become heir to become heir.
46:59 Has he qualified us to partake in what he has already ordained for us, instituted for us? So we have the bread that speaks of his body that was broken for us, was given for us on the cross, and we have also the cup. It speaks of his blood that was shed for us on the cross. So if you are a child of God, this is for you. If there's a child of God, this is for you.
47:37 Let's pray. God, we thank you that you made us new, New creation set apart for you. Thank you that you have called us out of darkness into your wonderful light, and thank you for imparting to us your life. Lord, we realize that these verses were read and many others are not just for a thrill and not just to make us feel good about ourselves. But we realize that without Christ, we are nothing.
48:25 We realize that Christ is the one who has done it for us all. He act has accomplished everything on our behalf. And even though, Lord, we are not worthy of any of these privileges and blessings, They are ours because of Jesus because of Jesus, and no one can rob us from any of them. Though we boast not in what we have become, but we boast in Jesus Christ and his cross. We'll pray that your word this afternoon will touch hearts and even would raise people from the death of sin to life in Christ Jesus.
49:20 Amen. Let's stand up to worship the Lord together.
